'Band Aid' Explores A Universal Struggle

Love is complicated, and every couple goes through their own share of problems. Movies about romance have always reflected these struggles, and the new film Band Aid explores that universal truth in a unique way. The movie, a hit at Sundance back in January, tells the story of a couple who decides to work on their broken marriage by creating a band. But is the Band Aid band real? Well, it's complicated — a band called Band Aid did exist, once, but they weren't strumming about their marriage woes like Zoe Lister-Jones and Adam Pally's characters do in the new movie.

Band Aid was a mostly British supergroup that thrived in the '80s with their hit song "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which was released in effort to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia. Members of the group included Sting, Bono, David Bowie, Lisa Stansfield, Francis Rossi, and other notable artists of that time. Midge Ure, ex-Ultravox singer, said in an interview with Rolling Stone that the point of the song was to "touch people's heartstrings" — and it certainly did. The hit generated enough in sales to give $24,000,000 to charity, and continues to be a crowdpleaser today.

But the movie Band Aid, out June 2, is not about this hit song. It's possible that the name of the band in the movie didn't come from the actual real-life band, but rather from the expression of "putting a band-aid on it" — in their case, their rocky marriage.

But, of course, music might not be enough to salvage the couple's bond, as the movie explores. The film seems like a refreshing take on contemporary relationships, an honest exploration of growth within a struggling partnership — something we can all relate to, musicians or not.